1. Technical Field
The present invention is in the technical field of wireless data communications. More particularly, the present invention is in the field of managing the uploading of data files from multiple mobile wireless field devices to localized data storage servers utilizing IP addresses and GPS routing capabilities.
2. Related Art
First responders (police, fire fighters, EMS, etc.) and other in-the-field operation enterprises are collecting an increasing volume of data related to their respective field operations. For example, the capture of video by video cameras in police vehicles, capturing traffic stops, DUI stops, and other law enforcement business operations, is increasing as well. The video-captured evidence from these field operations is a critical component for investigations, criminal and civil, requiring an audit trail of responsibility. As a result, organizations utilizing video data need a way to securely and quickly upload the captured data from the data-capturing devices associated with the field operation vehicles to a centralized enterprise server while maintaining the proper chain of custody.
Early video systems utilized by in-the-field operation enterprises recorded data via VHS tape, DVD discs, memory cards and the like. Receiving, cataloging, storing, and retrieving the captured data in these formats at physical evidence rooms, while maintaining proper chain of custody documentation, is expensive. Further, the process is slow and prone to errors and losses: inevitably some VHS tapes, DVDs, and/or memory cards are lost or damaged. As a result, in-the-field operation enterprises are moving to vehicle data capturing systems with a wireless capability so that data is transmitted wirelessly with a defensible chain of custody directly, eliminating the need for manual handling of evidence media such as VHS tapes, DVDs, and memory cards.
However, captured data files may be large, especially for video data files. For example, one hour of high-resolution video recorded at thirty frames per second creates a video data file of approximately 1 gigabyte. Police utilizing video recording systems record on average two (2) hours of video in an eight (8) hour shift, resulting in two gigabytes of video data that needs to be uploaded at the end of the shift to the enterprise storage server. Such a volume is much too large to be uploaded on a real-time basis over a cellular or satellite data connection established by the wireless field devices linked to the data recording systems. While cellular wireless data continues to get faster, particularly with 4G LTE, the bandwidth speed is still relatively slow compared to Wi-Fi and other 802.11 wireless connections. In addition, the cost to upload that much data over the cellular network would be prohibitive. Further, satellite based data upload is generally much slower and more expensive than cellular, so satellite data uploads are even less practical. As a result, the captured data is retained on the data storage portion of the data recording system within the in-the-field operations vehicle until the data can be wirelessly uploaded over Wi-Fi or other faster wireless point-to-point communication methods after a shift.
The uploading of the video data and other recorded information is generally done at locations associated with the enterprises, such as police station parking lots, jail or prison sally ports, fueling stations, fire stations, vehicle repair garages, and other enterprise facility locations. Such enterprises generally have several locations spread throughout a given area. In these instances, the in-the-field operation vehicle may only be within these secured locations temporarily. The vehicle may be at the enterprise location for business reasons including, but not limited to, dropping off a prisoner at the jail, refueling the vehicle, or returning to the police station parking lot at the end of the shift until the vehicle is needed for following shifts. Therefore the data upload process needs to be as fast as possible, so that the in-the-field operation vehicles, including First Responders, can get back in the field, as opposed to waiting for a slow data upload process to be completed. Other organizations with a large field work force and vehicle fleet have a similar business need to get field data uploaded quickly and reliably.
Wireless field devices connected to the data recording systems, such as laptop computers and vehicle wireless routers, have incorporated Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n wireless communications capability for some time, and are highly effective over small distances, such as 100 to 200 meters, rather than communications of Wire Area Networks between geographically separated upload points, like enterprise locations, that could be many miles apart. Because short range wireless communications is often faster than long range Wire Area Network communications, in many cases organizations have set up local file servers at wireless access points at there various locations to quickly receive and temporarily store large data files, particularly video data files, so that enterprise vehicles can get back into the field more quickly.
However, the data recording systems often do not have the ability to determine or store the name or IP address of more than one video server. The enterprise will often have multiple video servers with different IP addresses at different enterprise locations. Therefore, there is a need for a system that can automatically determine the location of the multiple video servers and route the upload of data files based upon the location of the wireless field devices in relation to the multiple video servers. Further, there is need for a system to perform such a function while maintaining the proper chain of custody.